


Getting Comfortable

by KazimaKuwabara



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Gen, Trans Character, Transphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 08:57:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13784076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazimaKuwabara/pseuds/KazimaKuwabara
Summary: It was her scream, that made him freeze.High, feminine, and short, with a ragged breathlessness. He had heard her scream before- powerful, angry, low, and guttural. This scream was different. This was not how Beauregard screamed.





	Getting Comfortable

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this story in me for weeks, but hesitated to write it. I finally decided to go for it, so I hope you like it. And if you please could leave me a review that would be great. :>

It was her scream, that made him freeze.

High, feminine, and short, with a ragged breathlessness. He had heard her scream before- powerful, angry, low, and guttural. This scream was different. This was not how Beauregard screamed.

Mollymauk brought his swords in a scissoring motion, and lobbed off the head of the orc, before spinning on his heel to look behind him. Beauregard had her back to her enemy, her arms wrapped around her chest, and knelt in a small cowering crouch. An Orc stood over her, blinking at a piece of fabric in his hand. He dropped it and then looked at Beauregard clearly surprised that his opponent had suddenly dropped into a tight ball on the ground.

Mollymauk's mouth opened... he had never seen her like that before. Beaureguard never...  _cowered_  before.

The orc, heavily injured and on his last leg, seemed confused but then raised his heavy ax for Beauregard's back.

"You will not touch that infernal woman!" Mollymauk spat, parrying the orc's ax with one sword while burying his second sword in the creature's gut. A gurgling sound slipped past the orc's mouth, before it crumpled to his knees, teetering just a bit. Mollymauk brought up his foot and kicked the orc in his chest sending him collapsing backward in a heap. The orc did not get back up.

Mollymauk spit on the creature, a gesture he didn't normally do to his enemies, but the orc had ruined his silks and therefore deserved it.

A quick glance of the cave's interior told him he and Beauregard were alone, and he turned to her, "Beau? Beau, are you injured? Let me see-"

"NO! No, don't look at me!" Beau squeaked in a pathetic high-pitched wail.

Again Mollymauk was stunned by Beauregard's reaction. They had traveled together awhile now and she had never... acted like this. He'd never seen her drop to the ground like this, or offer her back to an enemy. He blinked trying to grasp at what exactly was happening.

The small town of Trostle had been having a problem with a small band of Orcs. They had taken over a mine where the village got most of their coal and ore which was the town's main economic resource. The Orcs were also prone to attacking stray villagers and travelers which served as another problem. The group had been hired to take care of the Orcs, which was going fine until they all got separated in the winding passages of the mine.

The Orcs had been clever. They had managed to lead the group towards a central part of the mine and then scattered in all directions. And without much thought, they went off chasing the Orcs into different paths. Mollymauk hadn't realized they'd even split up until he looked behind his shoulder and only saw Beaurguard. Before anything could be done about it, the pair were engaged in battle.

But now it was all over and Beauregard was... was?

Mollymauk dropped his gaze to the floor hoping to find the answer to what was causing Beauregard to freak out.

And surprisingly, there on the floor was his answer.

The top part of Beauregard's shirt was laying shredded on the ground. Mollymauk was startled as realization dawned on him.

"Did that Orc rip the front of your shirt?" Mollymawk gasped as the thought entered his head, "Are you...exposed?"

Beauregard didn't answer but her ears turned a dark red.

Something cold clenched his stomach, "Did that Orc do anything to you?! Beau-"

"No! No! Nothing like that!" Beauregard hissed, a slight tremble in her words, "I don't even think he knew what he did...just..." She trailed off at a loss for what to say.

He took a step closer towards her again, and she snapped, "Do ** _not_ ** come over here!"

Mollymauk felt a wave of annoyance and frustration spring up within him for a moment, but he managed to squash it down after a moment. Sighing he removed his jacket and began to approach Beauregard.

Her whole body tensed and her back muscles spasmed as she clung to herself tighter, "N-No please don't! Don't look! Please!" Her voice was rasping and pleading. She sounded so scared.

"I would never look at you without your permission."

Mollymauk had meant to say that in a biting scathing tone. He'd meant it to sound annoyed, disinterested, but sincere. Instead, the words spilled from his lips gently and ringing with genuine concern, care, and honesty. Beauregard looked over at him from over her shoulder, and they held each other's gaze a moment. Mollymauk blinked and cleared his throat, his jacket extended.

He never got to give it to her as an Orc came hurtling from the darkness and rammed him hard into a wall.

"Molly!"

The wind was knocked from him as he was slammed into the wall. He cried out as the orc dug his fingers down his chest, and sunk his teeth into his shoulder. Mollymauk cried out eyes wide with pain, his vision spinning. He tried to struggle but was pushed harder against the stone causing him to cry out. The Orc's fingers dug at Mollymauk, trying to claw his flesh with his dull fingers. His hands did not have claws, but with sheer will and force alone the Orc was trying to tear through Mollymauk's flesh, and doing a decent job at it.

In Infernal, Mollymauk shouted, "Get the hell off of me you stupid fucking animal!"

The Orc's skin seemed to quiver and jump with discomfort but the Orc did not stop his attack. The Orc dug his teeth harder into Mollymauk, pulling hard, determined to rip off a hunk of flesh. Mollymauk screamed, this whole body burning with pain as he felt the pull of his flesh in the monster's teeth.

**_THWACK!_ **

Beauregard's staff collided in the Orc's temple, and the monster released Mollymauk with a savage curse. Mollymauk crumpled to the ground, hand clamping down on the wound, his eyes looking up at Beaureguard as she fought off the Orc.

He was surprised to see her eyes were shining with tears. Her face was twisted with anger, hate... and something sad. Like she was resigned to something. With a savage angry cry, her staff struck the Orc again and again as she pushed him back. The bridge of Mollymauk's nose crinkled, as he watched with some... confusion. The emotions on Beauregard's face... she was so angry. But it wasn't at the orc. She was fighting something else.

The Orc said something to Beauregard in a mocking sneer, his words thick and sloppy. Mollymauk's head was spinning so much the creature's word's hadn't registered. But whatever the creature said wasn't good, and had only managed to piss Beauregard off more. Her face turned white as she grit her teeth in rage, and Beauregard shoved her staff into his laughing mouth. Her arms bulged as she pushed it in with all her might. The wood splintered as she shoved it hard into his maw, pained choking sounds pouring out as blood gushed from his mouth. She gave one last shove and the Orc fell over dead.

Mollymauk got up his brain slowly catching up with what he'd just seen and what he'd heard. Confused he looked at Beauregard who turned to him, her eyes filled with a painfully exposed raw pain.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice low.

Mollymauk didn't answer, he was too stunned. The sight of Beau and the words of the Orc had just hit him full force.

 _"What's this? A boy pretending to be a little girl?"_  The orc had sneered.

Mollymauk's mouth opened, and he unwittingly stared at Beauregard small, flat and masculine chest.

Beauregard raised trembling hands to cover herself, and Mollymauk's eyes shot up, and his mouth closed with a click.

Beauregard wouldn't look at him. Her breath was harsh and though he had not seen her cry, tear tracks left clean paths down her grimy cheeks. She was radiating with so much emotion and pain Mollymauk couldn't even think to name them all.

"D-don't... quit looking at me... Just-" Beauregard began to speak, her voice trembling, but Mollymauk had swooped up his jacket and rushed forward wrapping it around her chest. He crushed her in a hug knocking her back a few steps and knocking the breath out of himself. 

He had never thought he would hug Beauregard, ever. Not even if you paid him. He'd save her life, he'd fight alongside her, he'd scream at her, and maybe even punch her in the face, but he never thought he could bring himself to embrace her. But at the moment, now that she was in his arms, he didn't know how he'd ever let her go.

She was stiff and surprised. A hug had not been what she'd been expecting, and maybe was not something she had even wanted. But she didn't push him away or pull away. She let him hug her, a faint tremble running over her as she shifted awkwardly in his grasp. Finally, she whispered, "What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry. I would never have looked, I shouldn't have. Not without your permission," Mollymauk declared firmly staring hard over her shoulder at the back cavern wall.

"...Well. You saw. And... and it's not your fault you saw. I-I couldn't let that Orc..." She tried to explain herself, tried to keep her tough act up.

Mollymauk pulled her into a tighter embrace, so tight it hurt the ripped flesh of his chest. He wanted to mold her to him, and take her pain from her shoulders. To shake it out like a heavy mantle weighed down with the dust from the road, and drape it on his own shoulders. He wanted to take this frustrating, annoying girl that he was forced to deal with, and make that annoying bravado of her return. Instead, he muttered, "Thank you. Thank you. I know you gave up... something that was yours to help me. You sacrificed your own personal comfort to save me... and I will never forget that. Beau... thank you."

Beaureguard stiffened, and then her face dropped into his neck. She stifled a sob, "I'm so fucking pathetic man..."

"No, you're not! Don't kid yourself. Your Beauregard! Mysterious, shit-eating, arrow catching, ass-kicking, upstart! That Orc... he's a goddamn fuckwit who doesn't know shit about you. The greatest lesson that beast learned today was how to die by your hands," Mollymauk hissed, a fierce vicious protectiveness taking over him.

Beauregard sniffled, and one arm slipped around Mollymauk's waist. 

She clung to him, and he clung back. The pair stood together in the darkness until an unspoken moment passed, and they released each other. Mollymauk kept his eyes skywards and turned around giving her privacy to pull on his jacket. The fabric shifted noisily, and then Beauregard cursed. A moment passed and there was another annoyed sound before she muttered, "Does this thing tie up?"

Mollymauk snorted, "No... wear it backwards."

She grunted in response, and then after a moment cleared her throat. He turned around, and couldn't help but grimace at how ridiculous she looked.

"It really doesn't suit you. Red is not your color, and wearing it backwards is in poor taste," He said shaking his head with dislike.

"Yeah, yeah, well bite me!" She snapped, her sneer looking forced.

A silence fell over them, and tentatively Mollymauk raised his hand. He wiped her wet cheeks, Beauregard watching him with caution.

"You can trust me with this," He said as he cleaned her face, "You're _you_ , Beau. Nothing will change. You're just you."

Her eyes filled with tears again, and her face scrunched up. She looked like a child who had been scared and been reunited with its mother. It hurt him to see this look on her and made his arms itch to hold her again. Luckily for him, she was the one to come close and embrace him. 

Their hugs were not comfortable. She was stiff and clung too tight. They both kept their feet an awkward amount of length away from each other and stood at uncomfortable angles. She didn't seem to know where to put her face, and his horns and intricate piercings kept trying to tangle in her hair. Their hugs were not comfortable, but Mollymauk decided that he'd gladly do this again if Beauregard ever needed it.

If she ever asked.

He squeezed her and they let each other go, meeting each other's eyes. Mollymauk nodded, pointing towards the path they had come running from, "Come on, let's find the others. I'm sure I can track some of em' down. No doubt the smart ones have backtracked already."

"Which ones are the smart ones?" Beauregard asked, walking alongside Mollymauk, letting him guide her through the darkness.

"Oh Fjord definitely, and Yasha too," Mollymauk answered easily, "Caleb too at times..."

"So... that leaves...Nott and Jester?"

"Good girls, lovely girls. I trust 'em with my life... but do I trust them not to run screaming down a cave shrieking that, _'they're on the case!'_ and then getting us more unwanted attention? No, No I do not."

As Beauregard chuckled, Mollymauk let a grin overtake his face. They were not comfortable together, but it felt like the could get there.

 

**END**


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